Building YOUR Personal Real Estate Brand?

Social media has become a key branding tool for professionals across all fields, including real estate..

Related Article: Social Media Secrets To Going Viral?

Brokers and agents can connect with fellow industry players, push out information about listings or open houses and use social listening tools to identify potential clients who may be looking to buy.

But as with any brand, no one will want to follow you if all you post about is business.

Your social media audience wants to know that there's a human being behind your accounts, and it's important to have a healthy mix of personal and professional content to keep people engaged.

Members of Forbes Real Estate Council offered 10 key ways to use social media as an effective brand-building tool without alienating your followers.

Related Article: How To Make Social Media Pay?

1. Show Your Personality And Charm

You may be focused on selling your product and service, but it is paramount that you incorporate the importance of intangible factors like personality and charm. You've been in sales your whole life because every day you are selling your most important asset: yourself. It may sound clich, but people do business with people they like. So sell yourself; the business will come later. -Alex Chieng A & L Real Estate Team

2. Be Yourself And Let People Into Your Daily Life

Don't be afraid to let people in on your daily life. If you post little snippets of your life, people will love following you. Keep your social media positive — happy pictures of your friends and family, and then sprinkle in a little bit of work-related subjects. Be real! When you make people laugh, they will be glued to your reality. -Angela Yaun Day Realty Group

Related Article: YOUR Social Media Brand Voice?

3. Find A Balance

It’s important for your social media to be a reflection of yourself, personality and all. But at the same time, remember who your audience is. Your followers are likely interested in your real estate knowledge, not necessarily how you feel about the current political climate. Make sure to find a balance or people might not take you seriously in the real estate industry. -Joshua Hunt TRELORA

4. Have Your Clients Blow Your Trumpet

I have seen some younger brokers/agents use social media to engage with their customers and use that as a brand building tool. It adds more validity to your skills when praise comes from your clients rather than yourself. Tagging your clients in a post mentioning a successful closing might be the first step to brand building on social media. -Nikhil Choudhary Zenith Engineers Inc

Related Article: YOUR Social Media Brand Screenplay?

5. Focus On Facebook

The biggest mistake most good agents make with social media is they try to do it all. The vast majority can't; they are too busy. The best one for agents is hyperlocal: Facebook. You can connect with your sphere and your neighbors. There is no better way to reach your audiences to build your brand. Use Facebook in the course of your daily routine and post as you go. -Kevin Hawkins WAV Group, Inc.

6. Be Consistent

To build brand awareness you need to stay consistent with your message, whatever it may be. Make sure to be active across your social media platforms on a daily basis and find a way to differentiate yourself and stand out from the herd. -Engelo Rumor List'n Sell Realty

Related Article: YOUR Social Media Business Presence?

7. Don't Try To Sell

Use social media to build your personal brand, not to sell your product or service. Post items that help people understand who you are, what you think and what you stand for. Be very careful never to criticize others: Whatever you say on social media is out there forever, in writing, for anyone to see. -Lee Kiser Kiser Group

8. Add Value To The Conversation

Whether you currently use social media or not, it is critical to understand that your brand is already being talked about online. By using social media, you can steer the conversation in the direction you desire. The No. 1 rule of social media is to provide value. Always make sure you're adding value to the conversation while keeping the goals of your audience in mind. -Sarnen Steinbarth TurboTenant

Related Article: Social Media Secrets To Going Viral?

9. Be Where Your Clients Are

When developing and managing your social media brand, it's important to focus on those channels where you'll have the most impact. The greatest content in the world is useless if no one is seeing it. Survey your clients and prospects to find out what social media channels they're using and what type of posts they like to read. -Lisa Fettner ReferralExchange

10. Go Behind The Scenes

Use social updates, videos, live streams and other tools to show off your listings, but your life. And I'm not talking about a video of you standing in front of a Bentley — I'm talking about the real grunt work that goes on behind the scenes whether you're staging, flipping or listing a home. -Kent Clothier Real Estate Worldwide 

Guest Authored By Forbes Real Estate Counsil. Forbes Real Estate Counsil is an invitation only organization for executives in the Real Estate industry. Follow Forbes Real Estate Council on X.

Related Article: Promoting YOUR Social Media Content?

As with any brand, no one will want to follow you if all you post about is business.

Your social media audience wants to know that there's a human being behind your accounts, and it's important to have a healthy mix of personal and professional content to keep people engaged..

• 

  Authored by:

  Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBrand.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Scottsdale, AZ. I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)

Getting Personal On Social Media?

As a career sales executive, I can say with experience: social media has completely changed how we do business..

Social media is an entire ecosystem of audiences and potential customers that we, as salespersons, can tap into at will - of course, with varying degrees of success..

Related Article: YOUR Social Media Sales Targets?

With X’s launch of a new direct message button, social media strategy has evolved once again.

Now brands, companies, sales reps, you name it, have even more opportunities to actively engage users through chat bots and other automated services.

But user beware; this newly-automated nature of “direct messaging” prospects can only take sales and marketing efforts so far. Bots and automated experiences lack the intuitiveness of a sales rep, to know when an engagement needs to be nurtured long-term, or when to provide an in-depth client experience.

Let’s face it, we’d rather talk to a person than some bot. That’s why today it’s crucial marketers and sales reps develop a client-brand relationship on social media that’s personal. Give your fans the first-class social experience they deserve!

Here Are Five Ways to Put the Personal Back in Social

Related Article: Social Media Influence And Big Dollars?

Create Short And Compelling Content

The average viewing attention span is only 7 seconds, down from the high of 12 seconds in 2000. Across the industry, there is an unmet need for shorter content.

For your next pitch, consider producing a short video about what you do. Less is more after all. Another idea is to take your webinar content, splice pieces out, and create shorter, snackable pieces of content primed for social media sites.

Show Me You Know Me (SMYKM)

If you’ve read my posts you know I’m a huge believer in the Show Me You Know Me philosophy. The eighty million Americans – the Millennials – are not some single monolith, and they shouldn’t be treated as such. They enjoy being stereotyped or pigeonholed as much as Generation Xers or Baby Boomers.

That’s why it’s important to do your homework, and find out who your potential client is not “what” they are. You need to go beyond the basic Three Gs: gender, geography, generation. Craft your message with nuance and details.

Related Article: The Art Of Winning Social Media Conversions?

The heart and soul of outreach is knowing your buyer. So, take a step back, and personalize your interactions with customers. Context and a well tailored message are now imperative to reel in a prospective client.

Host Your First Networking Pow-Wow's

Go beyond who you already know and find the people on the edges of your network, where other’s networks overlap. Chances are, there are hundreds of contacts who just need a simple introduction.

Gather your staff for an “Account Executive Social Pow Wow.” Go from being a “third degree” connection to a “first degree” connection with a simple introduction from your colleague. Think of it as a LinkedIn Party – an office social event to tweak and boost online profiles – with a kick.

Find commonalities anywhere! Be creative. Perhaps you know someone who went to the same college, likes the same baseball team, television show, or has a similar leisure activity.

(As a bonus: Meetings such as these also boost morale and collaboration across teams).

Related Article: Creating A Powerful Social Network?

Social selling Is Not A Suggestion, It's A Must Do!

Like your email address, a hashtag is now an extension of your brand, company, and you. It’s all ties back into personalization. A hashtag makes you searchable, memorable and encourages others to carry that message forward. It can be emotive, topical, or humorous.

Additionally, offer advice through your social account. Stay away from “share, share, share,” as it lacks creativity and can sometimes annoy. Instead leave insightful comments related to relevant posts. Then promote your own materials for followers to see - in moderation.

Create A Campaign or Contest Between Sales/Marketing For Referrals

The networking universe is constantly expanding – so why not be proactive in keeping pace? Unfortunately, far too many people let this slide, and let social network growth and referrals fall by the wayside.

Related Article: Increasing YOUR Social Media Followers?

Develop a system to refer people that you know or to help others out. Increase the number of people you are connected with who can offer resources or support. Even consider revisiting old opportunities and reinvigorate past networks. These are small, but important steps, and again, this builds morale between competitive reps.

People aren’t the least endeared by the “take a number” approach to customer service, or automated phone transfers that never seem to direct you to the right service desk. Why, then, would anyone want cold, generic dialog from a social media interaction? Personalize your approach to social media, and your audience is sure to follow suit.

Guest Authored By Samantha McKenna. Samantha enjoys Networking and easily obtaining new business through strong relationships, exceeding client expectations in sales execution, and superior consultative sales skills. She's continuously promoted into positions with increasing responsibility due to outstanding performance and consistently surpassing sales goals set before her. She oversees global legal directive and Enterprise sales team, working with clients on marketing initiatives that drive revenue, increase brand awareness and shorten sales cycles for their sales and BD teams. She's focused on demand gen, content marketing and revenue conversion. Follow Samantha on Twitter.

Related Article: YOUR Social Media Sales Strategy?

People aren’t the least endeared by the “take a number” approach to customer service, or automated phone transfers that never seem to direct you to the right service desk.

Why, then, would anyone want cold, generic dialog from a social media interaction?

Personalize your approach to social media, and your audience is sure to follow suit..

• 

  Authored by:

  Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBrand.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Scottsdale, AZ. I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)

YOUR Social Media Brand Engagement Data Science?

Too many organizations maintain a Facebook page, at times without much thought about strategy..

Small business and non-profit social media managers typically squeeze in posts around many other job duties. Still, I think much can be learned from those developing the art and science of social business goals, objectives and tactics.

Related Article: Measuring YOUR Video Ad Campaign's Performance?

Brian Massey, founder and managing partner at Conversion Sciences, focuses on business website performance data analysis. “The Conversion Scientist” (complete with his lab coat seen in my recent interview and during an eMetrics Summit presentation last summer) explores the marketing funnel – from lead generation through the optimization of the conversion process.

Related Article: YOUR Social Media Listening Power?

“Quality leads,” he says, allow marketers to “use a combination of user testing and A/B testing to prioritize and refine those ideas.” Improvement is defined as those tweaks that increase business revenue. It involves a constant process of innovation to respond to market changes driven by social media and other forces.

As I have noted in earlier blog posts, mobile smartphones are a location-based sensor constantly measuring contextual consumer behavior. From inexpensive content testing panels to big data pools, entrepreneurs are developing new tools to help marketers.

We’re talking about someone who understands how to evaluate data, how to collect data, how to make decisions based on the data they’re collecting, and integrate that into their design process.

Facebook target advertising offers social marketers access to millions of potential customers based upon demographic and psychographic filters. For businesses, that translates into qualified prospects. For non-profit and local government organizations, targeting is an efficient way to reach interested citizens, raise issue awareness, and spark new community engagement.

Related Article: YOUR Social Media Brand Screenplay?

Success on Facebook, though, requires advertising experiments and effective “landing experiences” on websites, Massey says. Instead of “spray and pray” blasts, “marketers have to embrace this experimentation culture.”

You may not be ready to wear a lab coat, but Massey makes a good point about Facebook targeting as, “interrupt advertising, as opposed to search, which is intent-driven based on the keywords that are entered.” A strategic campaign integrates words, site design and images, brand management and data. In short, we need to embrace granular, contextual data.

The beauty of testing is that it allows a creative team to respond to data by developing bolder campaigns, Massey says. “We can take those risks because we’re doing it with user testing and small experiments.”

A recent ObservePoint 2017 Analytics Summit made this clear. James McCormick, Forrester Research principal analyst, emphasized that strategic metrics should be coordinated through standards and best practices. Optimization of key performance indicators (KPIs), are grounded in digital intelligence platforms. Understanding “digital touch-points,” he has written, should lead to “optimizing and perfecting experiences delivered and decisions made by brands during moments of engagement.”

Related Article: Putting The "Social" Into YOUR Social Media?

Meanwhile, Massey focuses on site personalized visitor touch-points that locate someone at a place within the marketing funnel. It makes a difference, if a person seeks information, brand engagement, or price discounts. Artificial intelligence (AI) and the use of chat-bots work better for some functions than others. Massey asks, “What is the experience once they click?”

"These devices can be used to manipulate rather than persuade. We want to persuade, not manipulate. So, the more people we have that take on experience experimentation culture, the more diversity we have. I think it will ensure that we have a higher ethical bar of people who are using this data."

Massey says the data trend should not “scare you away from getting excited about the creative part of the job.” Social media marketers will need AI training to do the job five years from now, he adds.

Consider an email subject line. Data scientists can help marketers improve results. “I’ve got to sit down and use it on a daily basis to answer questions.”

Related Article: Getting Personal On Social Media?

For now, email and Facebook continue to be the primary way to reach people. “Instagram is probably the next frontier,” Massey says. Likewise, Pinterest can be effective. Increasingly, Facebook and YouTube video also are in the mix.

To some extent, the traditional marketing approach distinguishes use of social media from effective Instagram and Snapchat brand influencer campaigns. These sites, along with Twitter, started behind Facebook in offering targeted marketing data. Massey also is keeping an eye on Amazon and its integration of products and user data. “Every campaign is an experiment,” he says. “If we can embrace that experimentation culture, we have the tools, we have the data. We just have to sit down and ask questions that we can answer with data.”

Guest Authored By Dr. Jeremy Harris Lipschulz. Jeremy is a professor in the UNO Social Media Lab, School of Communication, University of Nebraska at Omaha. He is author of Social Media Communication: Concepts, Practices, Data, Law and Ethics, second edition (2018, 2015). Dr. Lipschultz has published books and scholarly articles on media, law, new communication technologies, social media and education. He has been a frequent media source for outlets, such as WGN, NPR, the Chicago Tribune, the Los Angeles Times, the Omaha World-Herald, KFAB, and others. Follow Professor Jeremy on X.

Related Article: Social Media Secrets To Going Viral?

For now, Instagram, email and Facebook continue to be the primary way to reach people. “Instagram is probably the next frontier.

Likewise, Pinterest can be effective. Increasingly, Facebook and YouTube video also are in the mix.."

• 

  Authored by:

  Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBrand.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Scottsdale, AZ. I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)

The Art Of Winning Social Media Conversions?

Advertisers frequently reference the magic of social media as a way to boost conversions and engagement in consumers..

And, in fact, social media has evolved into the go-to solution for helping users locate niche products and be persuaded to take the plunge (convert).

Related Article: YOUR Marketing As Good As YOUR Content?

Some of the biggest platforms -- X, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, -- are associated with some of the biggest and most consistent of these conversions.

One big reason for social media's success in this regard is its similarity, in today's digital age, to the marketing and sales procedures that ruled the traditional pre-internet era: In those years, the best salespeople commonly focused on building a relationship and trust with customers first before they began dropping hints about their product in the context of an "advisory" role.

In short, these salespeople didn't suddenly jump from making a contact to selling the product outright. So, the argument could be made that social media continues this tradition. It too builds a relationship and trust in an audience or clientele as a way to prime them for conversion.

Studies support this notion: According to Instagram's own reports, 80 percent of people who use the platform already follow a business. Also, those that already follow a brand or business are more inclined to be engaged with, and increase awareness about, that business. What's going on here is people's trust in "social proof": It's something customers look for in order to make decisions.

How can your business make use of this psychology? Here are some of the easiest ways to capitalize on it and get more conversions via social media:

Related Article: YOUR Social Media Listening Power?

1. Create unique content for each specific platform you target.

Much the way applicants submit supplementary essays when applying to multiple colleges, you should create content for, and gear it to, the specific audience expectations of the media platform you're targeting. Writing content that is native to a platform greatly increases the chances that its audience will accept it.

2. Use more than just links to promote your content.

When you post on platforms like Facebook or Instagram, you cannot rely only on a stream of links to boost your conversion rates. As noted before, hard-selling customers quickly turns them off to a business. To avoid giving your audience this negative impression on social media, you should promote your business by providing meaningful, interesting content users think is fun and genuine.

3. Keep track of your traffic.

As a basic rule of thumb, know which links and outlets are attracting the greatest amounts of traffic to your business's commercial pages. There are a ton of resources that can help you simplify this monitoring process, like Google's URL builder, which helps you capture important data about a specific link in the name of the link itself.

Related Article: Master Marketer Social Media Stratagies?

4. Know whom to target.

There are a number of ways to do this. Keep in mind that these methods should be designed to fit one platform, to produce the best results. Look at the sample platform, Instagram. In order to track the prime influencers in your niche, you might use a service like Ninja Outreach. Ninja Outreach specializes in finding influencers based on data associating certain keywords and their relevance and popularity on the platform of certain influencers.

5. Leverage existing professional relationships with marketers and influencers.

If you have a good working relationship with a number of marketers and influencers already, you can easily ask them to throw you a bone every now and then through a Twitter post or Facebook tag. First, think of relatively inexpensive things that marketers and influencers can do. Then, just reach out and ask them to mention your business in a tweet or tag back to your business in a relevant Facebook post.

While that may appear like a small gesture, it actually makes a huge difference in helping promote lead generations for your business.

Related Article: Influencing The Social Media Influencers?

6. Provide an easy, discreet log-in system.

So, users have begun clicking on your promotional link: Now, what? If you're thinking ahead a few steps, you should realize that making them feel welcome and providing a convenient medium for them to purchase through is key to increasing conversions. The easiest way to do this is to set up a social login system which lets users sign-up with a Facebook or Google+ account. Make it a point to not slam the login request in the face of a user with an involuntary pop-up or fade, as this may drive away inquisitive users with low commitment.

7. Make your checkout process simple.

If you make a checkout process too complex or long, you may find that users who'd intended to buy a product will change their mind halfway through. You want to keep their enthusiasm and interest for your product going strong as they fill in credit card details or a PayPal address. Having a payment system in place that can process a number of different mediums while being clean and efficient will greatly expedite the payment process. The less time that users spend in the waiting line, the less time they'll have to reconsider or second-guess a purchasing choice.

What can your site do to help you improve the conversion rates for your business?

Guest Authored By AJ Agrawal. AJ He is CEO and Co-Founder of Alumnify, an alumni-engagement platform. He's a Growth Marketer, Entrepreneur and Content Creator for Entrepreneur, Forbes, FastCompany and Fortune Magazine. Follow AJ on Twitter.

Related Article: Social Media Marketing Best Practices?

There are two main actions to consider when you're trying to get more conversions through social media:

The first is tracking social analytics; and the second is ensuring that your website and landing pages have strong calls-to-action and smooth account systems in place to attract and retain new customers..

• 

  Authored by:

  Fred Hansen Pied Piper of Social Media Marketing at YourWorldBrand.com & CEO of Millennium 7 Publishing Co. in Loveland, Colorado. I work deep in the trenches of social media strategy, community management and trends.  My interests include; online business educator, social media marketing, new marketing technology, skiing, hunting, fishing and The Rolling Stones..-Not necessarily in that order ;)